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Pige 2 Thursday, April 8, 1965 Sen a tar. Ralph If. Scoff BTE Editorial Page j Opinions of the Daily Tar Heel are expressed in Us editorials Letters arid ) columns, covering a wide range of views, reflect the personal opinions of their authors. A Year In Retrospect: The Daily Tar Heel First of Three Parts In fust three short days, the Daily Tar Heel will undergo the annual rejuvena tion process which allows it to retain eternal youth in the midst of an aging wdrld. A new editor will .assume the post which we have shared for the past year, and the accompanying changes in character' and policy of the paper wilt set the pace of things to come dur ing the next twelve months. As our term of office draws to a close, we wish to devote part of our editorial space to an apprasial and summation of the past year. Fred Seely and Hugh Stevens The editorship of The Daily Tar Heel is unique among ; the opportunities which this old but " energetic campus offers her sons. The traditional role of the journalist to test and prove him self in the public eye is nowhere more real or significant than among the daily pages of this, one of America's oldest and largest college publications. No one v has ever been able to say WHY he wanted to be editor of The Daily Tar Heel. Plenty of people voice daily WHAT they would do if they were editors ("If I was the editor; I'd . . ."), or even WHERE they think the paper belongs ("They oughta take that piece of trash and throw it .'..") . But the WHY is inexplicable. Surely no one has ever been editor in order to make himself popular or pow erful. Historical tradition, together with the world's most critical readership, as sures the editor of volumes of dis approval no. matter what kind of job he does. Farther,, the editor knows that his academic advancement will be retard ed, his social life abrogated, and his recreation virtually eliminated, bull, there is always someone eager to ac cept the job each year, and the paper thrives and- progresses because its blciou ii ; continually revitalized. WHY is this so? . Perhaps the best answer is the one to which we have responded often this yearr "Somebody is going to do it; it might as well be us." Somebody must be willing -to have himself quoted by the state papers when a crisis arises and his editorial com ment leaps into the headlines. Some body must be available to answer to the administration, to defend the stu dent viewpoint, to inform the campus, and to assess the impact of the failures ; and successes, both major and minor, that mark the pathway of the Univer sity. Somebody must be willing to assume his political stance and then dodge the verbal stones from the right and left. If he thinks of himself as a "moderate," he may fully expect the liberals to say he is stodgy or apathetic or bigoted or, to use their favorite term, "wishy washy." The conservatives, on the oth er hand, simply use the word "liberal," since it is the worst expletive those on the right can find. The right-wingers are also apt to associate the press, and espec ially the student press, with nebulous "conspiracy." Finally, somebody must be willing to "call 'em as he sees 'em" and ignore the biting condemnations which follow. He must be willing to print the truth even when the truth is not what the public wants to read. He must be will ing to stand up for what he believes, to fight hard against those who distort and falsify, and to say "I was mistak en" when there is nothing else to be said. Somebody must do it. And that some body, whoever he may be, is a lucky man. For out of the duties that are nec essary arise the goals that are possible, . the self - evaluation that pushes one i toward maturity, and the experience that leads to new knowledge. Those goals, that maturity, and that knowledge are the things which will re main long after the criticism and the frustration cease to exist. Perhaps they explain WHY somebody will always edit The Daily Tar Heel. A Triumph For The Fine Arts Last spring, when the first proposals for a biennial series of fine arts festivals to alternate with the Carolina Sympos ium were advanced, a few members of the University community raised skepti cal eyebrows. Perhaps they had reason; perhaps they had seen the abortive ef forts of the past flourish briefly, only to fail. Perhaps they felt that even Chapel Hill, cultural oasis that it is, could nei ther generate nor sustain the intellectu al energy required to support such an event. The skeptics, fortunately, were wrong. The 1965 Fine4 Arts Festival is now his tory, and successful history at that. All who played a part in staging such an outstanding event deserve our heartfelt thanks, for it appears likely that they have succeeded in establishing a cul tural beachhead which can only grow more formidable with time. Some changes will occur in future years, and rightly so. Hopefully, the multitude of associated events, such as playsand art exhibits, will increase as special groups take advantage of the large festival audiences. Certainly, it is not inconceivable that future festivals may adopt themes on which to build an entire week's per formance, much like the Symposium. But such refinements will come with experience. Ip Sailij ar if eel 72 Years of Editorial Freedom StCMi Class postage paid ai the post office in . semester $3 per yea. Printed by the Chapel T " ' 1 IIIWIiWIIII W, MIVl wtTifVUWM I. , is entitled exclusively to the Use for republic a (joarcf &il Iaeaf sews printed fa tMs newspaper as weu as a2 AF news ls?&fehe& m iii awiiriiiiimmu)ji3iLiit rum C'Trr t"V"m'M'mT''"-"TT''. IT "" - Ironically, the one truly sour note struck during the week came from an event that was predicted to be the high light of the Festival the Esquire Lit erary Symposium. The audience was small and . the participants obviously were uninspiring. Later, Esquire pub lisher Arnold Gingrich was heard voic ing his displeasure with "Southern stu dents who aren't interested in litera ture," . Mr. Gingrich's comment is unde served. Whether Southern students are as interested in literature as their coun terparts is difficult to ascertain; but a blanket condemnation certainly cannot be made on the basis of the Esquire Symposium. Frankly, we doubt that more than a few doezn members of the student body had ever heard of the par ticipants, none of whom ranks among America's heavyweight writers. In the past five years, the Esquire Symposium has presented such figures as Robert Penn Warren, Saul Bellow, James Baldwin, Edward Albee, Doro thy Parker and Norman Mailer at cam puses in the north and west. UNC, to put it bluntly, was shortchanged, and if Mr. Gingrich was disappointed, it par tially was because he chose to play his hand without a trump card. Further, the effect of carrying the Symposium over a weekend no doubt diminished interest in the festival and injured attendance. But one small shortcoming cannot and will not cause permanent injury to the entire Festival, Rather, the generally excellent quality of the event and the response from the University communi ty apparently has made it possible to make one final assessment long await ed by those who have labored so long to see this dream come true the Fine Arts Festival will be back. . Vision To See To The End O: nn i ne R w 5 When the Order of the GoiS en Fleece extended honorary 2?emiehl state Senator Ralph m Stm of Alamance County at its March 29 tap ping, it marked the first time that such an honor had gone to anyone who was neither an alumnus or a faculty mem ber of the Chapel Hill campus. Why was tbi; crusty veteran of the North Carolina political wars singled, out for such an honor? Howard White, editor of the Burlington Daily Times News, answers that question in the following article. The Editors The secret leading to last Monday night was well kept. When tapping started for the Order of the Golden Fleece at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, however, there was one who was included whose credentials were different from those in the past. State. Sen. Ralph H. Scott of Hawfields had not attended the Chapel Hill institution. Yet, he was made a member of the Order. What prompted this decision? To help provide an answer, a part of the past must be under stood. He Became Involved There was mach concern be ing expressed by supporters of Sen. Scott during last year's Democratic primary and gen eral election. He possibly had been the closest friend and ad viser to his late brother, Gov. Sen. W. Kerr Scott and he had come to be a strong admirer and confident of Gov. Terry San ford, who had handled his broth er's senatorial campaign. His political leanings also took him into the camp of L Richardson Preyer as the nomination bat-, ties were being waged. It. would have been easy for" the senator to have stayed in his home county and campaigned for his own election, for Repub licanism and Goldwaterism were proving to be rather strong po litical forces at work in Ala mance. But the senator never has been one to choose the easiest and the more conforming meth ods of politics. He got into the Preyer campaign, worked hard, talked a lot, threw out what was interpreted to be some rather cutting remarks, and stirred up to no small degree the anger of the Moore and Lake forces. 4 He knew he was placing his: own bid for re election on the line, that Richard Barnwell was' a formidable Republican oppon ent, and that his own support ers were divided in their feel ings on his state - wide involve ment. But he played the game of politics the only way he knew -T- by being frank, honest with himself, and courageous. When the final tally came in on election night, he had won a fifth term as state senator- by a scant 200 votes. "I'm not a gambler," he told one of his supporters during the heat of campaigning, "but I suppose I'm gambling on this one." Then, in February he returned to Raleigh for another session of the General Assembly, an other period in decisions of state government that had found him deeply involved for a long time not only as close friend and con fident of governors but as a vet eran and influential senator who had served as a member of the Advisory Budget Commission for four years and as President Pro Tern of the Senate in the 1963 session. How different would it be for him in Raleigh during the 1965 J A - J i Why Don't They Have Jubilee On The Front Yard Of My Apartment!" .wwAgw.vy; - J If V 11 7. i - i i. ;1 wmmmmm iiiiiiiiliiiiiillil v is v v . m. p , B-r 1; dmmi irt. i,,n t..nuiii ,. x- f coming. Sen. Scott soon was can be assumed to have con named by his nephew to be sumed much of his senatorial chairman of. the important Com- and his private time, mittee on Higher Education. SEN. RALPH SCOTT session? He had supported a losing candidate. He had alien vated numerous people who had been with both Gov. Moore and Dr. Lake throughout their cam paigns. He was to serve under his nephew, Li. Gov. Robert H. Scott, in the Senate. Decision Faced : The new lieutenant governor also was facing a decision when the General Assembly convened. He had an uncle who was not in complete favor with the new administration, and his uncle had been a part of some import ant assignments. Robert Scott spoke a few times about his feelings. , "I know one thing," he said. "I know that I want his exper ience, for it can and will be valuable to the session." Where would the new lieuten ant governor assign his uncle? The answer wasn't long in Whether the senator had re quested the assignment, or whether the lieutenant governor had looked to his uncle as the right one in experience to head the committee and the sensitive issues it was to face, probably will never be known. But it was evident that higher education in North Carolina would be in jeopardy unless there were a veteran senator on the scene to head ths committee who had the qualifications that were evident in Sen. Scott. Consistent Pattern It is possible that much of Sen. Scott's public service ca reer may have been overlooked because of partisan political in volvements. Yet, his work in the Senate, in review-, had fol lowed a rather consistent pat tern. ... . ... He had served asr chair man of the Senate Education Committee in a past session. . . . He had become one of the lieutenants of the Sanford administration in seeing that education did get the emphasis which the governor had pledged in his campaign. ... He had become the chief legislative contact in seeing that the program for mentally re - tarded children got new atten tion and new encouragement as well as new funds. He worked closely with Emil Cortes of Burlington, who had become almost a full - time campaigner for the cause, and the two of them, in turn, were named to the state commission which would direct the new program. ... While these personal in terests were being carried out, the senator was invited to make a talk before a Raleigh Ameri can Legion Post. The speech got state - wide attention, for the senator lashed out at the Speaker-Ban Law, which the General Assembly had passed in its clos ing hours in the 1963 session. He became one of the first lead ers in state political circles to let his objection become a part of public review. This expressed his personal opinion, but it also expressed the opinion of higher education leaders in the state. He has continued to express his opposition to the law, also, though it by no means is the most popular position to take. . . . Another of the issues in which he became involved was the proposed name change for N. C. State College, of which he is an alumnus. The name was changed by the General Assem bly to North Carolina State of the University of North Carolina at Raleigh, and untold numbers of State alumni didn't like the new identification in the slight est. Yet, Sen. Scott stayed by the decision of the General As sembly, claiming that the name wasn't as important as the in stitution's position in the total consolidated university pro gram. He said that the new name of North Carolina State University could remove the link that had held Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Greensboro togeth er so closely. It wasn't worth taking such a chance, he said. This, too, was a personal opin ion, but it also was in accord with the position of officials in the consolidated university. The pattern, then, is evident. There is no way to fully deter mine the many hours of behind the - scenes work the senator has given to education and high er education beyond the public positions he had held, but it Opportunity It may be proper to identify him more completely in line with opportunity for young peo ple, for this seems to better de scribe his service than the sin gle category of education. The mentally retarded child is qe: ting a new chance at education, of course, but in the broader sense the way has been opened for more opportunity for him. And the senator's work in public education and in higher education as it reflects in past years to the present adds to the identification opportunity for young people. The Speaker - Ban Law un doubtedly is viewed by him a clamp on educators and on stu dents alike to learn and com munism is a part of that learn ing, not as it bids for loyalty but as it enters into the total what communism is and its comparison with other philoso phies of government, concept of being informed on Let any issue arise striking at education, at opportunity for young people to find their way into the future, and he has been on the side of education and op portunity. High Honor All of this service, these many years in the State Senate and the roles he has played, ap proached last Monday night in Chapel Hill. The Order of the Golden Fleece is the university's high est honorary order. The Order in the past has tapped only university students or faculty members. This was the first time in the long and honored history of the Order that someone from the outside had been chosen. In tapping Sn. Scott into Us membership, this citation was presented: "Ralph Henderson Scott of Haw River, the senator from Alamance, ever ready to do battle for the cause of educa tion, an outspoken friend of the university, partisan for the cause of the mentally retard ed, a public man with a ca pacity for clarity, a conscience for justice, and the vision to see and to follow to the end of the row." Battles Subside Today, political battles of tftc past largely have subsided. He commented not long afo that Raleigh in this session has not reiected him. No one seems to hold it against him for the major role he played in oopo sition to the present adminis tration. He now has found himself in accord with the Moore program as it came from the budget m--sage and in its aim and purpose. He has been honored on many occasions in the many areas of interest in which his time away from Melville Dairy has taken him. He's a former Citizen of the Year for Alamance, for in stance, and the list of offices he has held in public service organizations, as well as those of his church and education ajjd in the dairying industry, is long. But no honor, in all probabili ty, has been more fitting than that which came through the Order of the Golden Fleece. lie long ago dedicated himself to educational progress for the state, and he hasn't changed his course. Letters To Th e .Editors Beardless YontK (Sipe) Is No Art Judge Grill Is Choice Over Dry Jubilee Editors, The Tar Heel: I certainly hope the Graham Memorial Activities Board en joys its dry Jubilee in cozy Ke nan Stadium, Personally, I think I shall spend that week end at the Grill; the entertain ment is just as good and the management is much more rea sonable. Michael Crow ell 206 Manly Letter Suggests OG Burger Rally Editors, The Tar Heel : HARK YE I Today a sign is made unto you, ye apathetic and insensi tive souls, as a challenge to aU you sons and daughters of Chapel Hill who love her beau ty. The insidious, malicious 'plot, weH - known to all, of the man Hanna from Charlotte, to place amongst you this offensive edi fice in tribute to the American Hamburger, an altar to-gastro nomic mediocrity and universal heart - burn, will be protested this night if, under the more public and practical leadership of the Daily Tar Heel, students will gather and burn the sign which has been presented. THE ORDER OF THE GADFLY EditorsT Note: This letter, like all from this order, was submitted secretively, and is printed in the hope that some- thing will actually come of it. . If the Order is seriously plant ing a responsible sign, we, as opponents of the hamburger stand, will support a rally to night. Vietnam Policy Is 'Irrational9 Editors, The Tar Heel: In reply to Messrs. Kurth and .Ruehl whose letter of April 3 criticized mainly my presumed aloof and unrealistic abhorrence of the use of gas by the Ameri can - advised South Vietnam ese forces, I say simply that they either overlooked or mis understood my main contention, which the use of gas and the new freedom allowed our bom ber pilots on their missions into North Viet Nam symbolized quite aptly and abrutply. My central argument was that our Viet Nam policy has be come an increasingly irration al, desperate and brutal display of armed might discharged by men unsympathetic and perhaps also oblivious to Southeast As ian historical, cultural and po litical reaiities. My critics chose to flail at peripheral points in my argu ment rather than deal with this, my major proposition: that Am erican in Viet Nam is waging a . wild and irrelevant, military fight' against indigenous politi cal, "economic and social forc es which cannot, by whatever force of arms, be made to sub side. The folly to which we are drawn by such a fruitless strug gle is highlighted by our ex traordinary use of nausea gas in a wartime situation. If my critics cannot see the inhuman ness of this deed (for this gas can indeed be fatal to those al ready suffering from heart and lung ailments), can they at least see the serious consequences it has for America's moral and political position in Asia? Or, do they think our com mitment in Asia is just part of the white man's burden which Asians cannot be expected to understand, their primitive needs and desires therefore be ing of no particular concern to us their self - chosen men tors and saviors? The use of tear gas by the world's police forces and by the British in Cyprus has no signi ficance to the serious military and political Viet Nam situa tion. To equate the use of tear gas in civilian riot control sit uations as in Montgomery or Harlem or Cyprus with the use of nausea gas in straight - for ward military 'operations in Viet Nam is tantamount to sug gesting that international order is a matter similar to and as enforceable as interna order within a nation. In the light of present world realities this is palpable nonsense. War is the manifest sign of mutually unacceptable interna tional differences. National po lice forces are the symbols of an accepted authority to keep civil peace. Police actions to safeguard civil order are there fore not equable with wartime actions which seek not to reas onably control but only to irra tionally obliterate sources of it ritation. Therefore, tear gas may or may not be proper to quell Civil disorder according to the community consensus on the is sue. In international warfare t e issue is larger since involving clashing cultures and hence the sense of common humanity is important. It has been the sense cf man kind that any type of gas war fare is reprehensible and pro scribed from practice. It is plain that we have in Viet Nam as did Italy in Abyssinia and Ja pan in China violated the stan dards, such as they are, of con ventional warfare. Our war policy consequently is cot only irrational and im politic, it is also unjust and con rary to the international con sensus concerning proper war practices. Phillip Podlish 413 Connor
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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April 8, 1965, edition 1
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